January 27, 2014

Meredith Hartman, NYSID’s regional sales manager, joined stars from the New York Yankees, New York Giants and FOX during the Center for Disability Services’ 54th Annual Telethon on January 26.

Meredith Hartman appeared on the Center for Disability Services’ 54th Annual Telethon on January 26

She appeared on the Telethon in recognition of the $5,000 first prize she donated to the Center’s Clover Patch Camp after winning the 21st Annual SEFCU Monopoly Tournament to benefit the Center last May. The Camp provides a fully accessible day and overnight camp for individuals with disabilities.

“I just think it’s really important that every child has the opportunity to go to a summer camp and just be a kid and have fun, no matter what their situation is or the struggles they have, the things that they’ve overcome,” she said. “They just get to go there and enjoy, relax and be in a safe, healthy environment and have fun.”

The Center raised a record amount of $2,007,973 during the Telethon, held at the Holiday Inn Albany and broadcast live from noon to 7 p.m. on NEWS10 ABC on Fox23.

Highlights of the Telethon included appearances by relief pitcher Shawn Kelley of the New York Yankees and running back Andre Brown of the New York Giants, plus special guests Stephanie Beatriz and Melissa Fumero from the Golden Globe winning show, “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” and Geoff Stults and Parker Young from “Enlisted.”

The telethon showcased the talents of dozens of area performers and introduced viewers to child representative Rory Fay Chamberlain, a three-year-old resident of St. Margaret’s Center who attends Clover Patch Preschool at the Center’s main site. The adult representative was Matthew Graham, 23, who lives in a Center residence and who works as a recreation assistant at St. Margaret’s Center, volunteers with the human resources department at the Center, and is an advocate for the Self Advocacy Association of New York State (SANYS).

Inspirational stories highlighted: seven-year-old Josiah Beahan-Yates of Indian Lake, a student in the Langan School at Prospect Center in Queensbury, which is a division of the Center; six-year-old Madison Monahan of Mechanicville, a student in a RAAVE (Responsibly Addressing Autism Via Education) classroom in the Center’s Langan School in Albany; Priscilla Wing of Delmar, who receives outpatient therapy and physiatry services through the Center after having a stroke; and Scott Flagler, a participant in the Center’s Adult Services program, whose home is safer and more comfortable thanks to the Center for Access & Mobility Services.

“Kindness was the theme of our 2014 telethon –– the kindness the community has shown us through decades of support and the kindness, expertise and innovation demonstrated every day by the Center’s employees as they teach, work with and treat the Center’s students, residents, adult program participants and patients,” said Anne Schneider Costigan, deputy executive director of the Center’s Foundation. “The Center is seen as a community resource, and it could not, and would not, be the place where people get better at life without loyal donors, new givers and many, many volunteers and friends.”